About Me

I feel I am able to communicate
well and I have a good grounding
in people skills.......Basically
all humanity is the same!
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The foundation of this blog was cemented by the Assassination of Hrant Dink on 19.01.07. I was listening to Setrak Setrakian’s rendition of Arno Babajanian’s composition, Elegy. So
moved by Hrant’s shortened life by the virtue of speaking his mind that I wrote the poem, ‘Without You’ with Hrant's family in mind. The subject matter of the recognition of the ‘Genocide of the Armenians in 1915,’ is very much at the heart and the minds of Armenian's Internationally.
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I want to say: 'Thank you,'
to Keith for the Creation
and Launch of,
Seta's Armenian.blogspot.com
and Armenag for the sources
of information.
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If you feel it would be appropriate, please include a link to my Blog from your Site. I would like my Blog to be as eclectic as possible and include material from as many and different sources so long as it is relevant to my subject matter.

About My Blog

This well-established Blog is worth visiting on a regular basis for a wealth of information of interest to Armenian nationals and to the Armenian Diaspora world-wide. Although it has a particular role in promoting international recognition of the Genocide, the Blog encompasses much more and includes many articles of general appeal to all those concerned with Armenian affairs. Much of the content is difficult or impossible to find elsewhere and the long list of links provided gives easy access to a plethora of material on social, political, religious, educational and cultural matters, and many news items from around the world.

Thursday, 30 April 2015

This describes the UK's continuing strenuous efforts not to offend Turkey (which has been redacted out) and to avoid the key issues.

A complete disgrace.

Latest Policy document from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

To: [redacted] From: [redacted]

PS / Minister for Europe Date: 8 November 2013SUBJECT: CENTENARY OF ARMENIAN MASSACRES OF 1915-16 IssuesAhead of the Centenary of the Armenian Massacres in 2015,

- should HMG change its current policy of non-recognition of the massacres as genocide?, and

- how should HMG be involved in centenary commemoration events?Recommendation/sWe recommend that we maintain our current policy on non-recognition of the massacres as genocide but take a forward leaning stance on HMG participation in centenary commemoration events in April 2015.

CommentI agree. There are strong arguments for maintaining a consistent HMG line that it is for courts, not governments, to decide what constitutes genocide, and this needs to dictate our approach on recognition. But we should ensure that this is not mis-read as lack of recognition (in the wider sense) of the appalling events of 1915-16. It would be right to participate more actively in 2015 centenary events, as well as continue efforts to promote reconciliation. [redacted]

1

Background

Between 1915 and 1916, an estimated 1 to 1.5 million ethnic Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire were killed during deportations to the Syrian desert. The massacres began with the rounding up and killing of leading figures in the Armenian community in Istanbul on 24 April 1915. Since then Armenians consider this day as genocide commemoration day. Many Armenians were massacred by Ottoman soldiers or irregulars en route; others were victims of criminal acts, starvation and disease. A number of other minorities also suffered. Since the 1960s and the 50th anniversary of the tragedy there has been a growing lobbying effort by the Armenian diaspora (not only in the US but also in France although less stridently in Britain) to gain recognition that the actions of the Ottoman Empire constituted „genocide‟.

While a few historians disagree on the scale of the deaths, there is no disagreement amongst the majority that there were significant and systematic massacres and other crimes directed towards Armenians before, during and after 1915-16. We (and France and Russia) described the events as a “crime against humanity” in a joint declaration in May 1915.

[redacted]

[redacted]

In 2009, the Armenian Centre in London instructed Geoffrey Robertson QC to review all legal and factual issues surrounding the events of 1915-16 to assess whether the evidence met the definition of genocide as set out by the UN convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1948 (1948 Convention). He concluded that it did, and that if the same events happened today, „there can be no doubt that the Genocide convention would be engaged and would require prosecutions for that crime as well as for crimes against humanity‟. Further, following disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act of advice given by FCO officials to ministers on those events, he states “[FCO] advice reflects neither the law on genocide nor the demonstrable facts of the massacres in 1915-16, and has been calculated to mislead parliament into believing that there has been an assessment of evidence and an exercise of judgement on that evidence.”

Geoffrey Robertson‟s Opinion raised important questions about the basis on which the FCO and HMG had justified publicly the position of non-recognition (in particular suggestions that we had reached our position because of lack of sufficient evidence that the events constituted genocide) and highlighted the recent ICJ, ICTY and ICTR judgements in the aftermath of massacres in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda which had further clarified our modern understanding of genocide. This led to a change in public line. In the context of the 2009 Turkey/Armenia protocols, which were meant (but have so far failed) to lead to a restoration of diplomatic relations and a joint committee to examine „historical issues‟, our public line (Ref A) now focuses on making clear our understanding of the scale of the tragedy and affirming the role of HMG in supporting these two countries in addressing their common history. [redacted]

EECAD last submitted on this issue in June 2010. The Minister agreed to continue HMG‟s policy of non-recognition.

Argument and Options8. April 2015 will mark the start of the centenary of the massacres, and is likely to see a concerted effort by the Armenian Government and diaspora groups to apply pressure to governments who have not recognised the massacres as genocide to do so. The diaspora in the UK and their supporters, including parliamentarians and members of the public, lobby us on an ad hoc basis. This is likely to grow into a coordinated campaign in the next 18 months. Related to this, the Prime Minister has just announced that he will be chairing a multi-faith Commission to ensure the UK has a fitting and permanent memorial to the Holocaust. This is due to report in early 2015. The Armenian diaspora may seek to include genocide recognition as part of this.

In this context, it is important to reflect on whether HMG‟s policy of non-recognition remains the correct one. In the past twenty years a number of key factors have changed:

 the development of a considerable body of respected scholarship on genocide studies and on the massacres in particular.

 the development of a body of legal case law around the crimes in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda which have further clarified what can constitute genocide (eg, Srebrenica ).

 an increasing number of national and regional parliaments passing resolutions or opinions recognising the genocide, including the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament.

 an increasing debate within Turkey on its history and awareness of the importance of the Armenian role in it

Set against this, the UK‟s policy on recognition of genocides has recently been reviewed by Ministers, in reaction to Parliament‟s call for the gassing of the Iraqi Kurds in 1988 (as part of the “Anfal” campaign) to be designated as genocide. HMG has not done so and has taken the public line that genocide is now a crime and that it is for courts and not governments to decide on whether genocide has occurred. The UK therefore recognises as genocide only those events that have been found so by international courts (eg, Holocaust, Srebrenica, Rwanda).

Furthermore, HMG policy is that international law is not retroactive. [redacted]

It should also be noted that the 1948 Convention does not contain any provisions which expressly provide for its retroactive application, nor any implicit suggestion of retroactive application. However, supporters of recognition would argue that the preamble (“recognising that at all periods of history genocide has inflicted great losses on humanity”) provide grounds for intellectually accepting that events which took place before the Convention was concluded can be seen as genocide, even if the Convention itself is not retrospectively applied. This does not, however, affect HMG‟s wider position on genocide recognition.Option 1 – No change in recognition policy, but take a forward leaning stance on HMG participation in centenary commemoration events in April 2015 (recommended).

While there is likely to be increased pressure on HMG, we recommend maintaining our current policy of non-recognition. This would maintain consistency with wider HMG policy that the recognition of genocides is for courts not governments. It would also support our position on retroactivity of international law. This approach would remain defensible, albeit contentious, with the UK diaspora and some elements of the media.

We may face a letter writing campaign and an increase in PQs or MP letters. There is also likely to be a corresponding increase in motions in the Devolved Administrations and some Council Boroughs recognising or re-affirming the events of 1915-16 as genocide.

While maintaining our policy, we further recommend changing our stance on participation in centenary commemorative events. [redacted] We believe a more forward-leaning stance that makes clear our understanding of 1915 and desire to commemorate the memory of the victims is appropriate for the centenary events. This would build on the Minister‟s visit to the Genocide Memorial in September 2012 and align with our longer term aim of promoting openness and debate, and ultimately reconciliation, between the peoples of Armenia and Turkey. [redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]Option 2 – Recognise massacres as genocide

Given the wide body of evidence available about the appalling events of 1915 – 16; our own judgement at the time that they constituted a “crime against humanity”, and the scope which the preamble to the 1948 convention provides to recognise (at least in a political sense) historical instances of genocide, [redacted] A change of policy would be received positively by both the Armenian government and the UK diaspora, and would put us in the company of the 20 countries, including France, Italy, Canada and Russia, and many other national and regional parliaments, who have already recognised the massacres as genocide.

However, this would be a significant and far-reaching change in HMG policy. [redacted]

And, beyond creating goodwill in Armenia and among their supporters, a decision to recognise the massacres is unlikely to result in tangible progress in HMG conflict resolution or other goals in the region.

We have been told by leading members of the UK diaspora that they may instruct Geoffrey Robinson QC again before 2015 to write a new report on HMG‟s recognition policy. As currently understood, the purpose would be to challenge the view that it was impossible to recognise the Armenian massacres as genocide because they had taken place before the adoption of the 1948 Convention. Any such report would raise the profile of the issue and of HMG‟s stance further, but we believe this would be manageable.

Resources31. There are no direct budgetary resource implications, although additional staff time will be required in order to intensify relationships with diaspora groups, draft replies to letters, etc.Implementation and evaluation 32. [redacted][redacted]cc list:PS

Tickets are available at £48 £40 £31 £25 £20 £15 £12 £9 and can be booked through the Philharmonia Orchestra Box Office on FREEPHONE 0800 652 6717(Mon-Fri from 9.30am) or online at www.philharmonia.co.uk**.(Transaction fees apply: phone £2.75; online £1.75)** A certain number of tickets have been set aside and will be available to members of the community at a 50% Discount. When booking online onwww.philharmonia.co.uk, write at the appropriate place during ordering the Discount/Promo/Concession Code: ARMENIA50% = Only available for a certain number of tickets. Once depleted, the discount code will no longer produce a discount.

“We are deeply disappointed President Obama has chosen to break his promise and stand apart from the global community on speaking the truth about the Armenian Genocide on its 100th Anniversary.

From Pope Francis and Germany to Israeli President Rivlin and the European Parliament, world leaders joined together this month to call the Armenian Genocide by its proper name: a genocide. Sadly, the President again joined the ranks of American leaders who turn a blind eye to genocide for political expediency.

Most troubling, President Obama’s explicit and forceful promise in 2008 to call the Armenian Genocide a “genocide,” stands in striking contrast to his refusal to use the term. The American descendants of the 1.5 million Armenians systematically murdered by Ottoman Turkey 100 years ago deserve better leadership from their President. There can be no doubt that when history looks back on President Obama’s legacy, this broken promise and his failure to stand for truth and justice will reflect poorly.

This April 24th is not the end of this cause, but the start of a new chapter. From New York to California and everywhere in between, it is clear that Turkey is losing its war on the truth. It will soon have to confront its past and do right by the descendants of the survivors. As Martin Luther King once remarked, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Some day soon, our ancestors will be remembered with the dignity and respect they deserve. Never Forget 1915.”

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL COMMITTEE OF AMERICA – EASTERN REGIONDiocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)Prelacy of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)Armenian Catholic Eparchy of United States & CanadaArmenian Evangelical Union of North AmericaArmenian Missionary Association of AmericaArmenia Fund USA, Inc.Armenian Assembly of AmericaArmenian Democratic Liberal PartyArmenian General Benevolent UnionArmenian National Committee of AmericaArmenian Relief SocietyArmenian Revolutionary FederationKnights & Daughters of VartanSocial Democratic Hunchakian PartyArmenian Bar AssociationArmenian Network of America, Inc.Armenian Youth FederationAGBU Young ProfessionalsArmenian Church Youth Organization of AmericaArmenian Students Association

news.am

BRITISH MP: NONE OF US WOULD WANT APRIL 24 AND

GALLIPOLI HAPPEN AT THE SAME TIME28.04.2015

[there is a significant error in this report. Since the dissolution of

Parliament, Mr Whittendale is not at present an MP. Hence he

should never be regarded as a legitimate representative of the

UK government. Contrast this with the heads of state who attended the commemorations in Yerevan representing the other two

signatories of the May 1915 statement that coined for the first time

the term 'crimes agains humanity']

John Whittingdale, member of UK Parliament and Chair of All-PartyBritish-Armenian Parliamentary Friendship Group was representing UK atthe commemorations of the Armenian Genocide Centennial in Yerevan. Inan interview withArmenian News-NEWS.amagency Mr. Whittingdale spokeabout his visit and UK's position on the Armenian Genocide.

Why are you the only representative of the British parliament inArmenia on April 24?

I chair the UK-Armenia group in the parliament, so I have been toArmenia four times already. My first visit took place with Baroness Coxwho is well known in Armenia. We appear in the middle of the Britishgeneral election campaign and we have national elections in two weeks,but I was able to take two days off my election campaign in orderto come to Yerevan. I think it is very important that somebody fromthe British government should be here to represent Britain. But ithas been difficult time, not for Armenia, but because it happened tocoincide with what is the most unpredictable elections that Britainhas had for a long time.

Prince Charles headed delegation to mark the 100th anniversary ofthe Battle of Gallipoli. How would you comment on this?

I have a very simple answer on this. The Gallipoli was a battle whenBritain has lost 35,000 soldiers. So, there are a lot of people inBritain who have close relatives who died, and they care much aboutcommemoration.

However, Prince Charles, I know, has a very strong sympathy andaffection for Armenia. None of us would want the two events to happenat the same time. And because the British people lost a lot of lives,he should be there, but Prince Charles has huge sympathy for theArmenian people.

The European Parliament has recently adopted resolution on the ArmenianGenocide. When UK make take such a step?

I visited memorial [Armenian Genocide Memorial] and museum in Yerevan.In my mind, the evidence is so strong that it was a horrifyingcrime and attempt to exterminate people. In terms of most people,if they look at what happened, it clearly was genocide. I think itis important that countries do recognize that.

How does the British society perceive the fact that the genocide isnot recognized?

For most people in Britain knowledge of what happened is much lessthan about the World War II. The theme has some coverage in theBritish newspapers, broadcast media. But it is not something to betaught in the British school books during history lessons, becauseBritain was not much involved. I hope that one of the consequencesof the commemoration ceremonies of the centenary will be to bringawareness, to educate people about what happened, and the remarks ofPope would help.

Turkey refuses to name mass killings of Armenians as genocide. Whatis your opinion on Turkey's stance?

I am not a spokesman for the government. My own view is that itwould benefit relations between Armenia and Turkey, and it willhelp Turkey actually to acknowledge what happened in the same wayas Germany acknowledged what it committed in the past. No one issuggesting that the present Turkish government is responsible forthe historical event. I personally would like to see it accepted thatthis was a genocide. What I think my government would like to see isnormalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia.

I do not think Turkey will suffer if it accepted what has happened,the same way as Germany accepted the crimes during the World War II.

No one thinks that the present German government is responsiblefor that.

It is truth, truth is important. Once you discover truth, you can putit behind you, learn lessons from it. It is the first step to preventthat such events, that took place against Armenians and the Holocaust,would not happen again.

Perhaps it’s not so strange that the Turkish Government is so reluctant to describe what happened on its territory 100 years ago as genocide.

After all, there remain plenty of people who to this day deny the Jewish Holocaust during World War Two, despite the overwhelming evidence that it happened.

And it’s no surprise that Hitler himself said weeks before the outbreak of war in 1939: “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

In his new book – the second he has written about Armenia – Canon Patrick Thomas, the Vicar of Carmarthen, clearly sets out the facts of what happened to the Armenian community in Turkey in 1915.

Earlier this month Pope Francis acknowledged the killing of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide, but despite promising to do so during his presidency, Barack Obama will not do so for fear up upsetting Turkey at a time of continuing tension in the Middle East.

Using a huge amount of source material, Dr Thomas tells the often gruesome story of how a whole community was targeted for extermination by those who took control of Turkey as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

What had been a multicultural society where people of different faiths lived harmoniously together was turned within a short space of time into one where a significant ethnic minority was seen as fair game for slaughter. Brutal torture

In his book, Dr Thomas writes: “April 24, 1915 is remembered as the date on which the genocide began to be implemented.

The Armenian community in Constantinople was effectively “beheaded” by the sudden arrest of its cultural, political and intellectual leaders, who were deported into the interior.

Only a tiny handful of them survived.

In many other centres leading Armenians were rounded up, brutally tortured and killed.

“A ‘special organisation’ of criminals (including many convicted murderers) had been recruited from the prisons.

"They were sent to the provinces to enforce the deportation of Armenians, with the assistance of Kurdish irregulars.

"In the Armenian heartland these deportations usually followed a set pattern.

"The remaining men would be rounded up, taken away and massacred. Ashes sifted

"The women and children were sent on death marches towards the Syrian desert. Many were gang-raped, some were abducted or trafficked, while others were left to die of exhaustion or starvation at the side of the road.

“Pregnant women had the babies ripped from their wombs.

"Those suspected of swallowing gold coins were sometimes set on fire.

"Their ashes were later sifted by those looking for loot.

"In Trebizond boatloads of Armenians were taken out and drowned in the Black Sea. Few survived the death marches.

"A later phase was of deportation by rail of Armenians from western Turkey, crammed into cattle trucks. Insanitary transit camps were set up, where many perished from disease.

"Those who reached the concentration camps in northern Syria were later brutally eliminated. 'Overwhelming' evidence

"In a few places Armenians refused to hand in their arms and attempted resistance, only to be overwhelmed and slaughtered.

“At Musa Dagh on the Mediterranean coast, however, a courageous band of Armenian villagers held off a Turkish attack during a lengthy siege, and were eventually rescued by French naval vessels.

"The penalty for a Turk found sheltering an Armenian was death by hanging. Nevertheless some Turks and Kurds did take the risk of helping their Armenian neighbours.

"Those brave officials who refused to implement their government’s genocidal plans were almost all either removed or assassinated.”

Dr Thomas asserts that evidence for the Armenian genocide is overwhelming.

It comes from eye-witness accounts by survivors, accounts of the trials of some of the perpetrators that took place immediately after the end of the war, reports by missionaries, diplomats and foreign soldiers and railway officials working alongside the Turks. Parallels with Jews of Germany

Although attempts were made to ensure that no photographic evidence would survive, horrified observers like the German medical orderly Armin Wegner managed to smuggle out pictures of some of the atrocities.

Perhaps the most damning evidence of all is the fact that those areas of western Turkey which were the homeland of Armenians for thousands of years now form an Armenia without Armenians.

Seeking to explain why Armenians became the object of such hatred, Dr Thomas explains how resentment had developed against their material and professional success.

By the late 18th century a group of wealthy Armenian magnates were regarded as valuable servants of the Sultan. In the century that followed they often fulfilled state functions as financiers, large-scale manufacturers and administrators.

A middle class of Armenian merchants and entrepreneurs developed, not only in the capital, but also in many other urban centres. Armenians became teachers, doctors, dentists and pharmacists.

Armenian artisans played a crucial role in the life of virtually every community. Their increasing prosperity made Armenians the subject of suspicion and envy from some other sections of Ottoman society. The parallels with the Jews of Germany are obvious.

Today 100 candles will be lit in Cardiff in memory of the Armenians who died in their genocide.

Remembering The Armenian Genocide by Patrick Thomas is published by Carreg Gwalch at £8.50

A date for your diary:

ONE DAY CONFERENCE : The Armenian Genocide: Coming to Terms with Justice, History and Memory

Friday 15 May 2015

Committee Room 3, Hendon Town Hall, the Burroughs, NW4 4AX

This event is free to attend, but places must be booked via Eventbrite:

This conference is organised by the School of Law at Middlesex University London to commemorate the centenary of the crimes committed against the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire. Among those participating in the conference are Professor William Schabas, Ara Safarian, Ece Temelkuran, Professor Laurent Pech, Payam Akhavan and Dr. Tunç Aybak. The gathering will consider the concept of genocide from a comparative and multidisciplinary perspective and discuss the political and legal aspects of the crimes committed against the Armenian people of the Ottoman Empire during WWI.

Programme

10:00-10:30: Arrival and Registration 10:30-10:45: Welcoming remarks by Professor Joshua Castellino, Dean of the School of Law

Tuesday, 28 April 2015

QADDAFI'S THREAT WAS TO 'TURN EUROPE BLACK'. IS IT HAPPENING? AND DOES IT MATTER?------------------------------------------------------------

‘If you don’t stop, I will turn Europe black!’ So did the late Muammar Qaddafi threaten while NATO was raining bombs on Libya. Same menace the Colonel had intimated in 2010 before the war. Five billion euros a year from the EU to stop African immigrants, he had demanded: ‘Else, Europe will be become black…it will change’.

Qaddafi was wrong, as well as implicitly racist. Because Europe is already black. (Well, in part.) Look at the population of European big cities, even the provinces, and this truth will jump out at you. The question is: if Europe gradually turns even more African-looking, should it matter? And to whom?

Qaddafi obviously thought it did - to Europeans. White skins and black skins do not go together, the defunct dictator assumed. Do I dare suggest he was displaying his own dark side? Because anti-black colour prejudice exists amongst Arabs, too. Consider a large Middle-East nation, Egypt. A minority of its people are Nubians. Remnants of an ancient, proud civilisation which graced ancient Egypt with quite a few Pharaohs. Today Nubians are a marginalised and discriminated minority, easily picked out by their ebony-black skin. In Cairo they often do the lowlier jobs. In my days there I knew a Nubian caretaker called Uthman. ‘No light-skinned Egyptian girl will marry me, I am too black’ he bemoaned. Maybe it was all in his mind, maybe not.

It is tricky: Anwar Sadat’s marked African features, denoting a Nubian origin, did not prevent him from becoming President of Egypt - with a wife of English extraction. Yet it is well-known how Sadat was embarrassed by his looks and tried to pretend he had no Nubian blood. Inferiority complex again – or maybe more?

(Come to think of it, most Saudi princes also display a distressingly light skin… A streak of racism?)

True, some Europeans dislike their continent being Africanised – although hardly anyone likes to admit it. But God’s Church cannot agree. At the end of St Matthew’s Gospel Christ commands his disciple: ‘Go and baptise all nations!’ (He did not say ‘white nations’, did he?) Indeed, just after the Resurrection among the first to be baptised was a black man, an Ethiopian eunuch, the Acts of the Apostles relate. Therefore skin-colour is theologically irrelevant.

Christian art bears witness to the inclusivity of the Church. Representations of the Magi coming to worship the child Jesus often show one of three Kings as black, as each stands for mankind’s major races. Rubens’ splendid ‘Adoration of the Magi’ is a case in point: one of the Kings looks unmistakeably like a Moor.

Apologists for slavery have sometimes cited Genesis 9:22-25. It spells a curse on one of Noah’s sons, Ham, the father of Canaan. Sometimes interpreted as the forefather of the black race: ‘A slave of slaves shall he be unto his brothers’. Naïve literalism apart, no single biblical verse could justify the inferiority of a large part of the human family. Biblical exegesis requires that difficult, troubling passages should be harmonised with clearer and more spiritual ones. Further, the Old Covenant is fulfilled in the New Covenant established by Jesus Christ, whose will is manifested in the universal command quoted above. No branch of humanity can therefore be subordinated to any other.

Warning about ‘millions of Africans…ignorant and starving’ clamouring at the gates of Europe, Colonel Qaddafi gloated that ‘it will be like the old barbarian invasions…Europe will no longer be Europe’. (More racism, groan…) He also mentioned ‘new religions’ overwhelming Europe via the black immigrants. Don’t figure he meant Buddhism – no, it was Islam. Let us not pretend: many Westerners are scared stiff by the growing influence of Islam but the old tyrant mixed up race and religion. Not all Muslims are black. Bosnians, Albanians and Turks, for instance, are not. And they, like it or not, are in Europe already, no?

Ironically, it was a Tripoli-Rome accord between Qaddafi and Berlusconi that radically reduced the numbers of illegal immigrants reaching Italy from North Africa. The Italian Navy turned away boatloads of immigrants at sea. Forced back to to Libya, the smug Colonel was happy to push them back where they came from. Berlusconi however was later overthrown by an EU-sponsored coup d’etat while Qaddafi…you know his undignified end. From where he is now, I imagine the bad Ra’is watching with glee the immigrant flotillas heading once again for Europe. He is grinning away: ‘My posthumous revenge on accursed Europe!’ Guess he has a point.

What is to be done? I recall a Dominican preacher wishing Europeans should become a big, happy, ‘miscegenated’ melange of races, like Brazil. Then all would be kosher, or halal. Unfortunately skin colour amongst Brazilians gets paler and paler as you go up the social scale. Real blacks are at the bottom. Not quite a racial paradise.

Is this an intractable problem? The US has a black President but race riots are happening right now in Baltimore. 150 years after the Civil War the black-white racial divide still persists. Writer Gore Vidal observed that the proportion of whites in the American population gets inexorably lower and lower: ‘When I point that out in a speech’, he said, ‘I see white faces in the audience getting paler, while black faces start glowing.’

In his workshop in the suburb of Yerevan, Shant Khayalian carefullyslices the soap he made himself. One would think Shant has beenin the soap business all his life. But he just started it here inArmenia and the way of doing business in Yerevan is very differentfrom that in his native Aleppo. Syrian Armenians, like Shant, are notrefugees here. The government considers them citizens returning totheir homeland after hundreds of years of displacement. The Armeniangovernment is trying its best to help them, the reportage of BBCcorrespondent Reda El Mawy says.

Over 15,000 Syrian Armenians fleeing the war in their country have beenwelcomed by the Armenian authorities who have given them citizenshipand helped with their resettlement.

"We've allocated a fund of half a million dollars to help SyrianArmenians to start small and medium enterprises. We also amendedsome of our laws to accommodate them," Minister of Armenian DiasporaHranush Hakobyan tells BBC.

It is noted in the reportage that Armenia is the first place of refugefor those returning from Syria. But there might be other opportunitiesas well. Up to forty Syrian-Armenian families have been welcomed inNagorno Karabakh as settlers.

"They gave us a house, they gave others farmland but the resourcesare limited here," Ara Kashashain, one of the settlers, says.

The reportage also says that confrontations are frequent in the lineof contact with Azerbaijan. Ara's family is trying to start a newlife here but the looming conflict is a constant reminder of whatthey left back home in Syria. "Every time my children see a planethey are scared. They say 'o Mommy there is a plane' and they rushhiding inside," Ara's wife, Vano Kashashain, says.

RFE/RL ReportSyrian Armenians `Desperate To Flee Aleppo'Naira Bulghadarian27.04.2015Ethnic Armenians remaining in Aleppo are increasingly desperate toleave Syria's largest city ravaged by continuing fighting betweenSyrian government troops and rebels, according to some former membersof their community now based in Armenia.

Hrayr Akvilian, a Syrian Armenian who took refuge in Yerevan threeyears ago, said on Monday that he and his friends are now exploringpossibilities of evacuating them to Armenia without the assistance ofthe Armenian government and the leadership of the Aleppo community. Hesaid they could specifically seek to raise funds needed to financeexpensive journeys out of Syria.

Akvilian said that he keeps in touch with many Aleppo Armenians byphone and through social media. "Every day I get several appeals toget people out of there," he told RFE/RL's Armenian service(Azatutyun.am). "People say they have no money, no means for gettingout on their own."

"The pleas addressed to me are really heartbreaking," he said. "Isometimes can't sleep at night after hearing them."

Fighting in and around Aleppo, the center of the once thrivingSyrian-Armenian community, has intensified in recent months. Themostly government-controlled city districts populated by manyArmenians and other Christians have reportedly been shelled andseriously damaged.

Hranush Arakelian, a local Armenian woman, was contacted by RFE/RL'sArmenian service (Azatutyun.am) by phone as she tried to retrieve somepersonal belongings from the ruins of her home which she said wasdestroyed by heavy artillery fire overnight. Arakelian and her familyhave been sheltered by one of their neighbors for the past few weeks.

"I'd love to come but I have no money to reach Armenia," themiddle-aged woman said. "My whole body shivers all the time. I can'tstand it anymore."

The Armenian government said, meanwhile, that it still has no plansfor a mass evacuation of Aleppo Armenians despite the worsenedsecurity situation in the northern Syrian city. Firdus Zakarian, asenior Diaspora Ministry official dealing with Syrian Armenianrefugees, reiterated that the government would try to help evacuatethem only at the request of community leaders in Syria.

Zhirayr Reisian, the spokesman for the Aleppo diocese of the ArmenianApostolic Church, a key community structure, said earlier this monththat local Armenians members are free to flee the city. But he madeclear that the leadership of the beleaguered community will not helpthem take refuge in other parts of Syria or abroad. "We are not intenton dissolving the community," Reisian explained.

Akvilian criticized that stance, saying that the fighting in Aleppo isincreasingly putting the lives of many Armenians at serious risk. "Thesituation there is hellish," he said. "It's time to see the realityand stop living with dreams."

"Should we preserve the Armenian community in Syria and especiallyAleppo at any cost?" asked the Syrian Armenian activist. "No, weshouldn't. I don't think that we will ever see the good old Aleppoagain."

Syria was home to an estimated 80,000 ethnic Armenians, most of themdescendants of survivors of the 1915 genocide in Ottoman Turkey,before out the outbreak of the bloody conflict in the Arab state fouryears ago. The community is thought to have shrunk at least byhalf. Some 13,000 Syrian Armenian refuges currently reside in Armeniaalone.

RFE/RL Report

Azeri Prisoner Operated On In KarabakhAra Harutiunian27.04.2015An Azerbaijani man imprisoned in Nagorno-Karabakh on charges relatingto the murder of an Armenian teenager has undergone urgent surgery ata hospital in Stepanakert, it emerged on Monday.

Shahbaz Quliyev's Karabakh Armenian lawyer, Arkady Israelian, andlocal human rights activists said he has already been discharged fromthe hospital and sent back to prison.

"The operation was successful and he is fine now," Karen Ohanjanian,head of the Stepanakert-based group Helsinki Initiative-92, toldRFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).

Ohanjanian said that Quliyev complained of abdominal pains when herecently visited the 46-year-old Azerbaijani prisoner. The latter wasthen examined by Karabakh doctors and diagnosed with chronicgallbladder disease that required surgery, he said.

Quliyev was one of three armed Azerbaijani men who secretly crossedlast July into the formerly Azerbaijani-populated Kelbajar districtsandwiched Armenia and the former Nagorno-Karabakh AutonomousOblast. One of those men, Dilgam Askerov, and Quliyev were separatelycaptured by Karabakh Armenian forces shortly afterwards.

The third Azerbaijani, Hasan Hasanov, was gunned down several dayslater after reportedly killing an Armenian army officer and gravelywounding a civilian woman.

The shootings were reported four days before Smbat Tsakanian, a17-year-old Armenian resident of Kelbajar, was found dead near hisfamily's farm. The Karabakh authorities believe that he was kidnappedand killed by the Azerbaijani "saboteurs."

Askerov was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment, while Quliyevreceived a 22-year prison sentence. A Karabakh court convicted them ofillegal arms possession, espionage and kidnapping. Askerov was alsofound guilty of killing Tsakanian.

The defendants claimed to have had no part in the boy's killing whenthey went on trial in Stepanakert in October. They both appealedagainst the verdict. It was upheld by a Karabakh appeals court inMarch, however.

The Azerbaijani government has denounced the trial as illegal anddemanded the release of the two men. It says that that they had alegitimate right to visit what is an internationally recognized partof Azerbaijan that has been under Karabakh Armenian control since1993. The authorities in Stepanakert have repeatedly ruled out thepossibility of their early release.

Davit Babayan, the spokesman for Bako Sahakian, the Karabakhpresident, on Monday portrayed Quliyev's surgery as further proof thatthe two Azerbaijanis have not been ill-treated by the Karabakhauthorities. "Every prisoner has the right to medical treatment iftheir health is at risk," he said. "This is natural."

A few days ago the 23 year-old Armenian soldier from the Lori villageof Dsegh repelled an Azerbaijani incursion attempt and sustained ahand grenade wound to the arm.

"I can't describe what I felt at the time. I thought I was about todie. Grenades were constantly raining down," says Karo who, alongwith fellow soldiers, repelled the dawn incursion.

Karo and Mira were hunkered down in a frontline position in Artsakhwhen the attack occurred. A hand grenade knocked Mira unconsciousand Karo was left to fend for himself.

Almost out of ammunition, he kept firing at the advancing Azerbaijaniunit until reinforcements arrived.

Karo estimates that there were at least seven in the Azerbaijani unit.

According to the Artsakh Ministry of Defense, one Azerbaijani soldierwas killed in the firefight and many others wounded.

The following morning, while being treated at a military hospital,Karo was visited by his parents and bride to be.

armradio.am

ARMENIA ON TOP OF WORLD NEWS27 Apr 2015Siranush Ghazanchyan

The words 'Armenia' and 'Armenian Genocide' have been the most demandedon Google over the past few days, information security expert SamvelMartirisyan told reporters today.

Articles covering the visit of reality star Kim Kardashian, the concertof the System Of A Down rock band, the participation of world leadersin the events commemorating the Armenian Genocide centennial were ontop of world news, he said.

According to the expert, the interest towards Armenia wasunprecedented. Google has not yet summed up the search resultsfor April, but according to preliminary assessment, the search for"Armenia," "Where is Armenia?" and "Armenian Genocide" grew 2-4 times.

The events of April 24 were a top topic in France, Germany, the US,Russia and even in Turkey, which denies the genocide.

What Armenia gained from this flow of information on the web? "Thisleft the Turkish propaganda in a crisis," he said. "Besides, thefact of the Armenian genocide is no more a question. Today there isonly one issue on the political agenda - to what extent this or thatcountry is prepared to recognize the Armenian Genocide, jeopardizingits relations with Turkey."

"Today we have nothing to argue about, while a few years ago we stillhad to prove there was genocide. I think the ice is now broken,"Samvel Martirosyan said.

He said the Armenian internet security experts managed to protect thewebsites against the Turkish-Azerbaijani hacking attacks. The dozenof Armenian websites hacked were not among the most popular ones,and this did not prevent the coverage of centennial events by mostacclaimed local and foreign media.

In 1915, during World War I, the Ottoman Empire ordered theextermination of the Armenian people. One and a half millionwere killed in the first genocide of the 20th century. But up to200,000 women and children survived, forced to convert to Islam andassimilated into the Kurdish and Turkish communities. Today, theirdescendants are discovering their Armenian roots that had lain hiddenfor generations. Our reporters followed them on their difficult searchfor identity.

We meet Armenak and his friends, who thought they were Turkish or evenKurdish until a few years ago. After discovering their Armenian roots,they decided to learn more about their heritage in their ancestralhomeland in eastern Turkey.

We also meet Armen, who discovered his origins while rummaging throughsome old family photos. Raised as a Muslim, he now plans to convertto Christianity. It's a decision that his wife, a devout Muslim,has difficulty accepting.

Their stories are typical of descendants of Armenians who survivedthegenocide. Many of those who managed to escape were forced to eraseall traces of their identity, adopting Turkish or Kurdish names. Acentury later, their descendants have opened a Pandora's box thatwas locked by previous generations.

By Johan BODIN , Achren VERDIAN

arminfo.am

BRITISH ANALYST: OIL WILL RUN OUT, KARABAKH CONFLICT WILL REMAINby David StepanyanApril 27, 15:18

Having internationalized Azerbaijan's establishment as a state in1990s, the oil industry simultaneously internationalized the consensusin the issue of preventing resumption of military actions threateningit, Laurence Broers, SOAS University of London, Centre of ContemporaryCentral Asia and the Caucasus, Department Member, told ArmInfo.

"In this context, the Azerbaijani oil is an integral element of thestatus-quo and it holds from resumption of the military actions.

However, oil is not the major problem connected with the territoriesand security, though the oil factor played a huge and controversialrole in building of the destroyed Azerbaijani state," he said.

Broers said it was the "deal of the century" that at a critical momentinternationalized the idea and legitimacy of Azerbaijan's statehood.

The oil dollars enable Azerbaijan to consolidate the acting elites,re- arm and inspire Baku with self-confidence.

"In this sense, he said, the oil can be considered as the key factorof Azerbaijan's refusal to accept the status-quo, though oil will runout sooner or later, but the Karabakh conflict will remain," he said.

Russia's southern periphery is closer to open war than at any timesince the 1990s. Hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia aremounting 21 years after a cease-fire froze a conflict that flaredin the dying days of the Soviet Union. During the relative calm,companies including BP Plc poured billions of dollars into producingoil and gas in Azerbaijan and building pipelines to link the countrywith southern Italy, says an article by Bloomberg.com.

"A May 3 election looming in Nagorno-Karabakh, the region Armenianstook over in the war more than two decades ago, may trigger a widerconfrontation, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc said. The vote"could further escalate the tensions, increasing the risks of a widerconfrontation over the disputed territory," Anna Tokar, an analystat RBS in London, said in an e-mailed note on April 16. That risks"putting the oil and gas pipelines in the South Caucasus in danger,"the article says.

At the center of the conflict, which has simmered with shootouts andother incidents ever since the truce, is Nagorno-Karabakh. The firstfour months of the year have been the deadliest, according to theCaspian Defense Studies Institute in the Azeri capital, Baku. Therehave been 31 confirmed deaths so far this year in clashes on thefront line, according to Jasur Sumarinli, head of the research group,the article notes.

With the world focused on the conflict in Ukraine, the escalation israttling a region crisscrossed by pipelines after BP and its partnersinvested more than $50 billion in Azeri energy projects. Azeriincursions into the Armenian-controlled areas surroundingNagorno-Karabakh are raising pressure along the disengagement lineseparating the adversaries, torn apart by religion and internationalalliances. Armenia's Defense Ministry is accusing its foe of waging a"hybrid war" of "micro-activities" from information attacks to armedforays. President Serzh Sargsyan, told France 24 on March 21 thatall-out war may resume "at any time."

aysor.amOn April 24 English Wikipedia's picture of the day was dedicated

to Armenian GenocideOn April 24, the picture of the day of English Wikipedia was dedicatedto the Armenian Genocide. It was a picture of an Armenian womankneeling beside a dead child during the Armenian Genocide by theOttoman Empire in 1915, Zhamanak reports.

"The inscription under the picture read: "The genocide isconventionally held to have begun on 24 April 1915, when Ottomanauthorities arrested and later executed some 250 Armenianintellectuals and community leaders. Much of the remaining Armenianpopulation were deported into the deserts of Syria, where most diedfrom starvation, exhaustion, and systematic massacres. The totalnumber of people killed has been estimated at between 1 and 1.5million. Though the events are widely recognized as a genocide byhistorians, the Turkish government rejects such a description," thenewspaper says.

tert.amExpert concerned over economic situation in Armenia26.04.15

This January-March saw a 2.5% year-on-year rise in the index ofbusiness activity, according to Armenia's Statistical Service.

In an interview with Tert.am, economist Vahagn Khachatryan said itdoes not reflect the reality. A rise in business activity should notbe linked to economic growth.

Mr Khachatryan, according to the National Statistical Service, thisJanuary-March saw a 2% increase in industrial output, and a 4.5%increase in gross agricultural output, with an 0.8% increase recordedin the construction sector. What is your explanation?

I am worried about more figures. A rise in the index of economicactivity should not be linked to economic growth. The system may haverecorded some progress, but it does not mean it has ensured economicgrowth. If speak of statistical data, we can see a 30% decrease inforeign trade. We see decreased trade turnover, the most importantindex showing the economic situation. It means a decline in eitherArmenia's population or the population's purchasing power.

As regards business activity, reality and figures on the paper alwaysarouse doubts. Even the agricultural growth included in the GDP alwaysarouses doubts because the figures have nothing to do with realagriculture. The Statistical Service and other government bodiesreceive data from local communities. And if no incidents have beenrecorded during the year, the communities as a rule report higherfigures. But in this season nothing is clear yet.

What about industrial output?

When industry records growth, with the energy sector not recording anygrowth, it is quite strange. But there is a factor showing that growthwill be recorded. I mean high technologies, whose share in theindustrial output is not so large. However, some doubts arise as well.How is not industrial growth accompanied by increased gas and energyconsumption? We may get an explanation in a few days, after all thedata are available. The general picture arouses concern. Moneytransfers are one of the main instruments of our economic progress,which has direct influence on commodity turnover and purchasing power.

Armenia's Minister of Economy Karen Chshmarityan commented on thedecline in the commodity turnover and exports. He said that Armenia'strade with the other Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) member-states hadnot yet been calculated. And Armenia's Statistical Service cannotcompare data.

Without ruling out the fact that Armenia's foreign trade is not 30%down, it should be noted that we have no progress either. Armenia'sforeign is obviously down. And other comments are, to put it mildlynot serious. It is common knowledge that Armenia's exports to theother states, especially to Russia are down, and imports from Russiaare down as well. We must tell the truth and think of ways out of thesituation.

Glamorous grandmother discovers link to the Kardashians, marksArmenian Genocide centennial25 Apr 2015Siranush GhazanchyanA GLAMOROUS grandmother has found she has a shared heritage with herdaughter's favourite reality TV stars - the Kardashians - afterembarking on a voyage of discovery into her own past, the GrimsbyTelegraph reports.

Annemarie Leake, 56, of Louth, decided to find out more about hernatural parents after her adopted mum Emily Lindley, 93, ofCleethorpes, began reminiscing about her own father, who served in theFirst World War.

Mrs Lindley said her dad, Alfred Thompson, was one of the Grimsby Chums.

And, having never known anything about her natural parents or familytree, the recollections inspired her to find out more.

Annemarie, who was the 2013 UK Glamorous Grandmother winner, said shehad found "peace of mind" thanks to a DNA match, which revealed hernatural mother was an Armenian woman.

And, as a mark of respect to her new-found heritage, yesterday thefamily held their own commemorations to the genocide of millions ofArmenians 100 years ago, as part of a global day of remembrance ofthose who died in the atrocities.

Annemarie said: "I have never had a birthday, nor a place of birth ora family line that was my own.

"I wanted to know what my heritage was. At last I have found it and ithas given me peace of mind."

The grandmother of two said: "It is so nice to have a point of origin.

"I would love to meet any other Armenian people living in the area."

Annemarie added her daughter Katarina had always been an avid followerof the rich Kardashian family in the US - including famous socialiteKim, pictured - who have proudly showcased their Armenian ancestry.

Annemarie said: "I can feel there is more of a connection to The Kardashians."

Annemarie told how she first met her adoptive mother 56 years ago atJews' Court in Lincoln - where they return on the same day each yearto celebrate becoming a family. Yesterday, they visited St James'Church to light a candle to her ancestors and displayed red, blue andgold flowers - the national colours of Armenia - in her home.

Annemarie said she was proud of her heritage and said her homeland wasthe fabled place where Noah built his ark.

The CNBC television of Turkey, while conducting a live coverage of theBattle of Gallipoli 100th anniversary events being held in Canakkale,Turkey, on April 24, accidentally aired the Armenian Genocide Centenarylive commemoration simultaneously being held at the Genocide Memorialin Armenia's capital city of Yerevan.

And the CNBC presenter spoke about the Canakkale remembrance events,whereas the Genocide Memorial commemoration was being televised livedon the CNBC screens.

The "mistake" by this Turkish TV company has caused quite a stirin Turkey.

Today the Bulgarian Parliament recognized the mass extermination ofArmenians in the Ottoman Empire in the period 1915 - 1922 and declaredApril 24 a day of remembrance of the victims. The decision was adoptedby the 43rd National Assembly with 157 votes "for", 37 against and noabstentions, after several hours of debates.

The Armenian Genocide, also known as the Armenian Holocaust, was theOttoman government's systematic extermination of its minority Armeniansubjects inside their historic homeland, which lies within theterritory constituting the present-day Republic of Turkey. The totalnumber of people killed as a result has been estimated at between800,000 to 1.5 million.

The starting date is conventionally held to be 24 April 1915, the dayOttoman authorities rounded up and arrested, subsequently executing,some 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders inConstantinople. The genocide was carried out during and after WorldWar I and implemented in two phases: the wholesale killing of theable-bodied male population through massacre and subjection of armyconscripts to forced labour, followed by the deportation of women,children, the elderly and infirm on death marches leading to theSyrian desert.

From Armenia Diaspora Project Facebook

Yesterday was an indescribable day. My biggest fear going into thecommemoration of the Armenian Genocide in Istanbul was that Erdogan,with elections approaching and a need to appeal to the MHP/nationalistvoters, would see our presence on Istiklal Cd as a threat and that thepolice would then melt away, allowing the nationalist protestors tobreak through their lines and attack us.

As we sat facing towards Taxim Square, we could hear the shouts fromthe nationalists at our backs every time the speakers would cut out.Chillingly it seemed to get louder and louder, as if they were edgingnearer and nearer. Then - as the sounds of Sareri Hovin Mernem faded-we heard a loud cheer from much closer, and then chants growing louder

and louder, a sound I had heard countless times in my years of coveringprotests; the sound of protestors breaking through police lines.

As we stood up to face what was coming, we saw them. Not angrynationalists waving the red flags of the Vatan Party, but thousands ofTurks, Kurds, Greeks, and Assyrians, bearing signs reading "հո՛սէնք" (We are here), bearing the pictures of Hrant Dink, Gomidas,Sevag Balikci, Taniel Varujan and many others, the streets echoing withtheir chants of solidarity.

A friend ran through the stunned crowd, arms wide open shouting "Theyare here with us! They have filled the street!"

theguardian.comWHY IS UK GOVERNMENT SO AFRAID TO SPEAK OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE? - THE GUARDIAN27.04.15Jesus's preaching was predominantly directed at his fellow Jews. Itwas St Paul who later directed this message outwards towards the widerworld. Which is why Paul's birthplace in Tarsus, near the Mediterraneancoast in south-eastern Turkey, has always attracted missionaries,looking for inspiration. And it was also why missionaries were amongthe first to report back on the true extent of the Armenian genocide.

In the early fourth century, the Armenians were the first people toadopt Christianity as their official religion. In 1914 there were 2million Armenian Christians living in Turkey. By 1922, there wereonly 400,000 left. What happened to these people has been largelyforgotten, or denied, or ignored - except, of course, by the Armeniansthemselves, who have continued to pass on their horrendous storiesof rape, death squads and forced conversions.

There is no doubt what happened was genocide. The Armenians werebranded as an enemy within by the Ottoman government, which used thecover of the first world war to systematically dispose of more than1 million people, forcing great columns of humanity to march off intothe Syrian desert to die of heat, starvation and disease. Speaking tohis generals some 25 years later, Adolf Hitler said: "I have sent myDeath's Head units to the east with the order to kill without mercymen, women and children of the Polish race or language. Only in sucha way will we win the Lebensraum that we need. Who, after all, speakstoday of the annihilation of the Armenians?"

The term genocide was coined in the early 1940s by a Polish Jewishlawyer,Raphael Lemkin, as a way to capture in law the extent of Naziatrocity. "I became interested in genocide because it happened somany times," he explained in an interview with CBS. "First to theArmenians, then after the Armenians, Hitler took action." So whyis it so difficult for many western governments - ours included,Israel's included - to use the "g" word when it comes to Armenia?

Barack Obama promised to say the "g" word when he became president.

But he deliberately hasn't. And the UK government has used everymanner of evasion - including trying out the preposterous argumentthat because the term genocide was adopted by the UN in 1948, itcouldn't be applied retrospectively. It withdrew this argument whenit was pointed out that this would mean the Holocaust itself wasn'tgenocide. Now the official line is one of studied avoidance.

The real answer to our avoidance of the "g" word is less than 30 milesup the road from Tarsus: the massive Incirlik airbase, used by the USair force and the RAF. From here, US and UK forces are easily deployedthroughout the Middle East. Speaking in the House of Lords in 1999,Baroness Cox came clean: "Given the importance of our relationships(political, strategic, commercial) with Turkey, and that recognisingthe genocide would provide no practical benefit to the UK ... thecurrent line is the only feasible option." It is worth noting thatthe foreign secretary at the time was Robin Cook - and remember his"ethical foreign policy" speech in 1997?

For many governments, the denial of the genocide of the Nazisis itself a crime. Yet when it comes to the Armenians, genocideavoidance (because the evidence is too unequivocal for denial) remainssemi-official policy. Little wonder the Armenians find it difficultto move towards closure on this issue.

Back in Tarsus, the home of Christianity's greatest missionary, thefaith Paul once proclaimed has now been eradicated. Some of those whosurvived the forced march into the desert settled in places such asAleppo in Syria and Mosul in Iraq, where they built Armenian churches- churches that have once again been reduced to rubble by Basharal-Assad's barrel bombs and Islamic State's murderous caliphate. Thevery least the British government can do is to acknowledge the extentof their suffering by calling it what it is.

“We have come here to apologize for what our ancestors did, to askfor your forgiveness,” two spokesmen for the Turks went on to say.

Shocked viewers across Armenia watching the Azdarar TV news channel[7] on April 11 could hardly believe their eyes and ears.

Turks, claiming to be Christian? And laying wreaths at the nation’sgenocide memorial? How could Turks, of all people, come to Armenia tohonor the memory of more than a million Armenian Christians who hadbeen slaughtered 100 years ago by their own forefathers, the Ottoman

Turks?

Gathered around the monument’s eternal flame, the more than twentyTurkish citizens spoke out simply, and repeatedly: “We plead with you,if you can, to forgive us and the crimes of our forefathers.”

Significantly, the Turks were joined by a number of local ArmenianChristians who formed a huge circle, holding hands together around thememorial as they prayed aloud in Turkish and Armenian for their nationsand peoples.

“You wrote history here in Yerevan today ,” one Armenian pastordeclared. It was the first time, he thought, that prayers in TurkishandArmenian had ever been voiced together before the somber memorial.

The Turkish Christians’ April visit to Armenia was the latest step inan unprecedented reconciliation initiative between Turkish Protestantsand Armenian evangelicals during the past year.

Organized informally by several Turkish pastors from Muslimbackgrounds, the gatherings first began with diaspora Armenians inCalifornia and New Jersey, followed by an Istanbul weekend between some90 Turkish and Armenian participants.

For the past 100 years, Turks and Armenians have remained outspokenenemies. Their historic enmity rooted in the Armenian genocide of 1915[8] is both political and ethnic, but also religious. Early in the 4thCentury, the Kingdom of Armenia was the first nation to adoptChristianity as its state religion. But the rulers of the crumblingOttoman Empire which carried out the genocide were Muslim Turks. Intoday ’s Turkey and Armenia, strong nationalist elements in the currentpolitical climate are so prevalent that the Turkish and ArmenianChristians who spoke to World Watch Monitor about their reconciliationgatherings requested strict anonymity for their own protection.

AN UPROOTED PEOPLE

An estimated 2 million Armenians had been living in central Anatolia[9] and the eastern regions of what is now modern-day Turkey for twomillennia. But after the Ottoman regime-ordered massacres and forceddeportations began in April 2015 , within two years up to 1.5 millionhad died. The survivors had either been forcibly converted to Islam ormanaged to escape into the Syrian desert.

“This page in history is really painful for every Armenian,” achurch leader from Yerevan who met with the Turkish Christians toldWorld Watch Monitor. “You can hardly find an Armenian whose relativeswere not victims of the genocide. For this very reason, Armenians livewith hatred and bitterness in their hearts.”

A Kurdish pastor who went to Yerevan said he discovered this realityfor himself. “There is a huge pain, and it needs to be softened tofind healing, to stop the hatred,” he told World Watch Monitor.“Armenians take their children to the memorial in Yerevan, but insteadof healing, it stirs their hatred. It’s in their hearts, and theycannot forget. Our fathers harmed them, and they are angry. Even inverysmall details, their trauma continues. If this is not stopped byhealing, it will get worse.”

But he stressed that the solution was a spiritual one, which had to bebuilt around honest, personal relationships. “We went as individuals.We didn’t go in the name of our churches. To meet face to face, inperson, to hear from these Armenian brothers and sisters and pray withthem was healing for both sides. The seeds of reconciliation have beenplanted, to grow and spread.”

“This has all developed personally, through the Holy Spirit’sorchestration in our hearts,” one Turkish pastor told World WatchMonitor. “Politics can’t resolve this,” another said. “TheUnited Nations has tried, so has the United States, to restorerelationsbetween Armenians and Turks. But they couldn’t reconcile us.”

“Politicians are stuck in the quagmire of pride, politics and gettingvotes,” another Turkish church leader said. But recently, he said,“Church leaders of both peoples are seeing that we must take the stepsof following Jesus, in humility and forgiveness, to see reconciliationand overcome this century of pain.”

A BOLD STEP

“We have all been waiting for someone to make the first step,” oneTurkish pastor told World Watch Monitor after returning from Yerevan.“But the first step against hatred must come from us Turks. When wemade that first step, the Armenians accepted it. They are ready.”

“It was a bold step,” one Armenian evangelical said, andparticularly significant for him because it had been initiated by theTurks.

For the first time, many Armenian Christians said they now realizedhowpainful it is for the 5,000 ethnic Turks and Kurds who have convertedtoChristianity in Turkey in the past few decades to face the truth aboutthe Armenian genocide.

Like other Turkish citizens, they were angered by the revenge murdersperpetrated by Armenian ASALA assassins, who killed some 40 Turkishdiplomats and officials during the 1970s and 1980s, allegedly “toavenge the Armenian genocide.” But this violence only stiffenedTurkey’s resolve to continue to deny the Armenian genocide, deepeningthe society’s resentment against Armenians as a people.

“When we Armenians saw that the Turks felt pain for what theirgrandfathers did, we understood that we must forgive them,” oneparticipant said. It took meeting Turkish Christians in person, oneadmitted, to be convinced “it is a fault for us to nurture hatred toour children.”

TEARS AND ACCEPTANCE

Some of their most moving experiences in Yerevan, the TurkishChristians told World Watch Monitor, came through casual interactionsonthe street with complete strangers who heard them speaking Turkish.

Several men happened one evening on a restaurant selling _lahmajun_, asmall thin pizza common in both Armenia and Turkey. After they ordereda meal in English, they sat down speaking Turkish among themselves. Amiddle-aged man nearby reacted angrily, asking in Turkish, “Are youTurks? What are you doing here in Armenia? May God save us!” When theyexplained why they had come, he retorted skeptically with a Turkishproverb, “_Bir cicek’ten bahar olmaz!_” [One flower doesn’tbring the spring}. Then he quizzed them about their faith, dubious thatTurks could in fact really be Christians.

“He softened a little, when we explained that we had been forgiven byGod,” a pastor said. “We told him, ‘Our people have sinned.Can’t you forgive us? God has.’ ”

The man then said his family was originally from Gaziantep, in easternTurkey. “I taught my children not to love or even like Turks,” hesaid. “I never thought until now that such a thing could ever happen,for Turks to become Christians. This has changed something in myheart.”

In another encounter, a shop salesman in a souvenir market reactedharshly when he heard his visitors were from Turkey. “We have comehere on the centennial of the genocide,” one pastor explained, “toshare your pain. We want to tell you we are sorry for what happened,andbeg your forgiveness.” The man’s expression changed, his eyesfilling with tears as he shook their hands and embraced them, one byone.

One Western observer of the Yerevan gathering confessed, “I may neversee something like this ever again in my life. I was a spectator,watching the walls of division and hostility come down. It’s what thegospel of Christ should be doing all over the world, bringing truereconciliation.”

PO9 1LP circulated the following amongst his congregation in commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.

Prayers were said at St Albans Cathedral on the 23rd, 24th, and on Sunday 25th April and also the Genocide was part of the Sub Dean's Sermon.

Anahid Anita King

armradio.amARMENIAN CHURCH TO FILE LAWSUIT AGAINST TURKEY

FOR RETURN OF CHRISTIAN SITE27 Apr 2015Siranush Ghazanchyan

On Wednesday, April 29th, Armenian Church leaders will host a pressconference at the National Press Club to announce the launch of legalaction before Turkey's Constitutional Court to regain ownership of thehistoric headquarters of the Church, which includes the Catholicosate,the monastery and cathedral of St. Sophia, a major Armenian Christianholy site located in the Sis (city of Kozan), in south-central Turkey.

This site was confiscated by the Turkish Government following theGenocide of 1915 in which over 1.5 million Armenians were killed ordeported by the Ottoman Empire.

This lawsuit, brought by the Catholicosate of the Great House ofCilicia, displaced to Lebanon after the events of 1915, reflects thedetermination of Armenians worldwide, on the Centenary of the Genocide,to reclaim their sacred religious property and Christian heritage inlands where they lived peacefully for centuries.

The Catholicosate which is the administrative center of the church,was moved from Armenia to Cilicia in the 10th century, and afterchanging a few locations it was finally established in Sis (Kozan) inthe year 1295. It remained in Sis till 1921. Under the Ottoman Empire,the Catholicosate of Cilicia was recognized as an independent church.

During the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923, the Armenian populationof Sis was massacred and deported, and its Christian holy sites werepillaged and confiscated.

Armenia became, in 301 A.D., the first nation to adopt Christianityas its state religion. Armenians have had a long historical presencein what is present-day Turkey. According to Payam Akhavan, a formerUN prosecutor and lead international counsel in this legal action,the return of the historical Seat of the Catholicosate of Cilicia"is a litmus test for the Turkish Government's respect for the humanrights of its Christian minorities, their freedom of worship in aculture of tolerance and dignity. This is a unique opportunity todo justice, to help heal the wounds of the past, to move towardsTurkish-Armenian reconciliation, a better future for both nations."